Checking out the Mighty Axe

I decided a while back to take some of the Labor Day weekend off to watch some racing. I wanted to get out of town for a couple of days and see at least one night of late model racing, so I headed to Grand Rapids on Friday.  I wanted to see my aunt and uncle who live on a lake near Brainerd as well, so I figured why not give North Central Speedway another look since I was in the area anyway.

The 25th Mighty Axe Nationals brought in more than 150 cars and a nice crowd on a near perfect September evening. There was a good purse being paid out for both nights.  I considered covering it for the blog with a race report…but with eight classes, and racing lasting more than six hours, the night got way too long.  My attention span doesn’t last that long.

NCS was sold to James Trantina earlier this year and he’s made several upgrades to the facility including a much improved concession area and menu. My first trip there many years ago, and I believe it was before Covid, I wasn’t overly impressed – it was like a 4 1/2 hour show. Last time I was there was 3-4 years ago and about 30 minutes into the program a monsoon hit. So, my experience there was limited.

It’s clear NCS has momentum, based on the crowd and car counts on Saturday. It was a fun atmosphere to be at.

NCS has already announced several big things for 2027 – the Lucas Oil Late Models will have a stop there, as will the World of Outlaw Late Models and the USMTS mod series.  North Central will also be going with Wissota sanctioning for the A and B mods there next year. With Trantina owning Granite City Motor Park, I-94 EMR Speedway and NCS, I would expect some kind of point fund or mini-series to take place, too.

I don’t know Trantina at all – I’ve said hi to him twice, once in the pits at Viking and another when I covered a Dirt Race Central Street Stock Tour race at Granite City last summer, so I don’t have any personal opinions on the guy. But watching from a distance, it’s clear he’s not afraid to spend money, and he’s not afraid to be aggressive in scheduling major events.  He also can be outspoken and brash on social media and he does have some critics, there is no doubt about. . But promotion-wise, he is aggressive and in today’s racing climate, that resonates more with drivers and fans more than assuming folks are just going to show up.

As far as the racing goes, without going into big details, I thought the track was in nice shape. Jake Hagemann of Little Falls won the Wissota Midwest Modified feature against a solid field of cars that included Jake Smith of St. Joseph, who happened to win the IMCA Sport Mod feature.  Landon Atkinson of Little Falls topped Brennan Gave for the Wissota Mod win while Kaitlyn Kohl made a late pass to win the IMCA Sport Compact feature. Tim Otterness of Brainerd – who we’ve seen race in the Red River Valley several times – won the IMCA Hobby Stock feature.  Dustin Holtquist of St. Cloud pulled away to win the Wissota Mod 4 feature while Tim Johnson of Brainerd – one of the top 2-3 street stock drivers I’ve ever seen – dominated the Wissota Super Stock feature.  The only race I took issue with was the ending of the IMCA Modified feature, as Joe Chisholm squeezed Aaron Johnson into the wall on the final corner in a fight for the lead; the 442 would have been the winner if I were making the calls but oh well.

My issue with the year-end invitationals is simple: some run way too many classes and the shows TAKE FOREVER. This is done by promoters to pad the pit gate revenue in times where the fan attendance has dropped.  Many tracks try to make money off their year-end specials (many charge draw fees in addition to pit fees).

The Fall Classic at Ogilvie is up to 10 classes this year which is completely ridiculous.   Bemidji and Jamestown will run eight classes at their year-end specials; Madison will run seven at the Mad Town Showdown, Granite City will run seven at the Piston Cup later this month. Brown County, Fix It Forward Greenbush and Rice Lake all ran six classes this weekend.   A credit to Devils Lake for only running four classes for their doubleheader this weekend.

Hibbing, which used to draw more than 200 cars in four classes for its Labor Day Shootout, had 137 in eight classes on Saturday. To put some context on it, the Mighty Axe Nationals certainly pulled some cars from that, and a doubleheader at Rice Lake Speedway pulled some Wisconsin cars away from it. 

The Seitz Memorial at River Cities only runs four classes and thrives in terms of car counts. The Red Clay Classic at ABC Raceway gets more than 200 cars running in four classes.  The final two nights of the Northern Nationals at Gondik Law Speedway run four classes. Might be some lessons to be learned from those. Sometimes less is more.

To wrap up the night at NCS, while it was a very long night, too long for my taste,  there was a good energy and enthusiasm from the folks I talked to in the pit area. I felt the racing was solid most of the night.